Finding small changes in Mountain Lion developer preview

You've probably heard about the biggest features of the new OS X, Mountain Lion, by now: Apple's implementing some popular iOS features like Notifications, Game Center, and Reminders on the desktop OS. But unless you've actually played with the OS for a little while (which would mean you're a developer with access to the beta), you might not know about all of the other little updates, smaller features that make a big difference overall, but haven't been talked about much just yet.

Fortunately, GigaOm has found quite a few of these little features, and written them up for the rest of us to drool over. Turns out the resemblance to iOS won't stop at the list of apps installed on the device: Finder file transfers now show off an iOS-style progress bar, and toolbars are simpler and more tactile, borrowing a lot of the button looks from Apple's official iOS applications. There are just some new cool features as well, like Safari tabs simply splitting the distance on their bar instead of squeezed into one corner, and some new updates in System Preferences, including options for screen savers.

It all sounds great, and a list like this shows that Apple isn't just interested in copying iOS' best features on OS X; it's still thinking about how to make the desktop system better on its own as well. Mountain Lion's due out sometime this summer, and as far as we're concerned, sooner the better.